Gender violence

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Overview

Gender (based) violence stems from gender inequality in the way that a person is discriminated against because of their gender. The violence in gender violence can be physical such as rape or physical abuse but isn’t always physical as an abuse of power is just as violent. This can occur anywhere and at any given time. Gender violence happens when there is an unequal distribution of power between the people and the power is used in a negative way and often happens because of gender stereotypes and stigmas (eg. A man may not feel guilty for hitting a woman because she was not obedient and listening to him which is related with the stereotype that women must obey what men say and have less power). Often this happens to further reinforce the fact that the person is in power. This can affect anyone but more often affects women than men.

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gender and health

Normal abuse and gender violence can be differentiated by the fact that the sole reason behind gender-based violence is one’s gender. Violence because of someone’s gender shouldn’t occur as people should be treated the same despite their gender. A trans person may realise that they are treated completely differently after transitioning as they went from a gender that was accepted around them to a gender that was looked down on.
Gender violence can affect your health mentally as you would feel not only weak but also overwhelmed with negative feelings as you’ve been attacked. Gender violence can also make a person lose trust in strangers (if the attacker was a stranger) or may have a hard time trusting close friends, possibly ruining relationships. Their physical health would be affected by their mental health which could result in weight loss, lack of self care, etc…

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My opinion

My opinion on the issue is that gender violence is an extremely important topic which occurs more than it should (it should occur at all but it is very common unfortunately). I think that stereotypes men are the head/should have control over everything is a big issue as this is how gender violence started and became a big issue. normalising that men had more power meant that women was would “automatically” be weaker even if th eh had more potential. I think that gender violence shouldn’t be an issue and hope that it won’t be a problem for future generations.

respectful relationships

In a respectful relationship, there still may be a power imbalance but as it is respectful, no one would be hurt because of this. There is a difference between having more power and abusing power and learning how to maintain power without getting greedy or abusing it can help stop gender violence. Having a respectful relationship with everyone (not just a certain gender) and treating everyone the same would also limit the about of gender abuse cases.

bibliography + part B

unhcr
duke university
respect
UN women
promundo
anrows
BMJ
PART B